“Are you paying attention, Darren?” Crystal’s nasal voice cuts sharply through my thoughts. I gaze sleepily at her.
“Mmh, sorry. Coffee first, active listening after.” My head is pounding; it’s six a.m., and I was up until three. Not intentionally—my thoughts kept me awake.
My thoughts, and Cheyenne’s absence beside me in bed for the first time in three days.
Crystal is as chilly as a ski slope at dawn; I have no idea when or even if she went to bed, but she’s more pulled together than anyone has a right to be this early in the day. Dressed all in white, from her skirt suit to her stockings to her white gold jewelry. Her light blonde hair is up in a perfect chignon, her pale blue eyes are delicately lined—and they fix on me disapprovingly as I stifle a yawn.
The reason she looks so goo
